Planning for Indy 500 Long Weekend

Sounds like a great weekend plan for the 500. I will let others chime in on the breweries you listed. Besides breweries places in the greater downtown area you can also hit up with good craft beer selection and/or food options for the "beer indifferent" crowd on Mass Ave (MacNiven's, Ralston Draft House, Mass Ave Pub, Black Market) or Fountain Sq (Chilly Water Brewing, La Margarita, Thunderbird) areas which are a easy Uber/Cab.

For Sunday the taproom and 2-acre grounds at Daredevil will be one big beer garden so we do hope to keep up with what will be a large crowd that day and there will be multiple outside beer stations in addition to the taproom service. There is also carry out if you need some cans for the track. Taproom will open early at 7 am on race day and also be open after the race until 8 pm for those waiting out traffic or staying in town until Monday.

 

You've got a solid plan.

Re: Question 1 - Deviate is far and away the top spot in Indy, with Black Acre a solid 2nd. I'd recommend allocating as much time as you can to Deviate, though keep in mind they don't have food, but encourage take out or delivery be brought in from anywhere. Black Acre is a couple doors down for an excellent pizza place, Jockamo's. Sun King, you know, gateway beer for the masses/craft noobs, IMO. They do some solid specialty releases but they don't always have them available and the IPAs don't touch Deviate (again, IMHO). St Joseph, really cool space in an otherwise excellent area downtown, within walking distance of Mass Ave. My lone experience there was meh, though; I don't feel much need to return. I'll let other people give more detailed info on Tow Yard and TwoDeep, but my personal thought would be to skip them both. Flat12 downtown, they've had a ton of issues with their bottling/canning in the past but they do put out some quality brew and their taproom is cool and funky; it's 5 minutes from center of downtown by car. Hopcat is cool, the food is mediocre to good, but honestly, if you're coming down from Chicago, our distro is roughly the same as your's except not as good; the beers you find there won't be much different than things you find at home...if you want to go to Broad Ripple, go to Twenty Tap instead (~40 quality taps), they have excellent burgers, fries, and cheese curds that will blow your mind.

Re: Carmel, the Upland taproom has good to excellent food. Upland beers are hit or miss, but if they have their Coast Buster DIPA on, it's pretty damn good, and some of their seasonals are very good. They've recently started putting their sours on tap but that's still pretty hit or miss. But if you want carry out bottles of sours, it seems like they have them available pretty frequently now. We go to Upland Carmel semi-frequently, but mainly because I live 5 minutes away and I like the food a lot as opposed to an expectation that great beer will be on. Also, in downtown Carmel, the Pint Room. They have >100 taps. Unless you really want to go to Hopcat because it's Hopcat, you'd get the same experience going to Pint Room from a beer perspective and it'd be closer to your hotel, obviously. Pint Room's food is really hit or miss, have had some great experiences but more recently, consecutive bad ones which is unfortunate as I've now sworn off their entrees completely, though the cheese curds are good. Last for question 1, Taxman is a hike for sure, about 45 minutes from Carmel, but it's a great experience. Incredible space, decent to excellent beers, including guest taps, and fantastic food. Best burger I've had in my life, no shit. But it is way down there.

Question 2 - @ShaneP's suggestions are good. Mass Ave also has The Tap. Which is an import from Bloomington that will have a great taplist. It is walking distance to MacNiven's, Bazbeaux for great pizza and a few good beers on, Bakersfield as well. We also have a Kuma's Corner (of Chicago fame) in Fountain Square neighborhood. From Convention Center/Circle area, you can walk to Mass Ave, but I'd say you should cab to Fountain Square, ~ 5 min ride. Also downtown right off the circle is Tomlinson Taproom on the second floor balcony of City Market. They always have 15 Indiana only taps, usually some gems and really good prices.

Bonus question - Some places do utilize beermenus, but it's not widespread here. Here's an abbreviated list of breweries and restaurants and how you can find their taplist:

• Hopcat - On their website, but be warned, I have been burned multiple times by their online list and the beers shown not actually being available.
• Pint Room - Uses beermenus
• Twenty Tap - Check their website/twitter, they post a new taplist daily.
• Deviate - Scroll through their twitter to find the most recent pic of their board.
• Tomlinson Taproom - Updated taplist posted on twitter daily.
• Flat12 - Check their website.
• The Tap - Check their website.
• Black Acre - Check their website, under Beers.
• Taxman - Check website.
• Sun King - Look at the left side of their main page for tap list of both locations.

 

Are you going to the race? If so, remember that you can bring in your own beer. Cans work the best and luckily in Indiana a lot of good beers are canned.

 

No glass, so cans work best.

 

I can't wait for race weekend. Ticket sales are apparently way up this year, and there's even talk about a possible sell-out. You are definitely doing it right by prioritizing Deviate and Black Acre. Deviate has the best beers in town but Black Acre is probably my favorite overall local brewer (location and lack of growler fills hurt Deviate a bit in my book).

To Answer your questions:

1. Fountain Square Neighborhood - Just southeast of downtown, Fountain Square has several great places to grab some food and a couple beers. La Margarita http://www.lamargaritaindy.com/ is a great little Mexican restaurant with a very extensive beer list. Little secret: its also a great place to spot IndyCar drivers, but probably not on race weekend. New Day Meadery makes some solid ciders and meads if anyone in your party enjoys those. Just went to the Kuma's Corner in Fountain Square the other night, lots of 3 Floyds on tap. Fountain Square Brewing makes a terrific Hefewizen.

Just adjacent to Fountain Square is the Fletcher Place neighborhood. It might be tough to get into Milktooth http://www.milktoothindy.com/ on race weekend because its just that popular. Its a brunch spot with a nice beer/wine/booze/coffee list (oh and great, inventive food). Chilly Water Brewing is in a great location in imo. Nice outdoor patio and a pretty cool interior vibe. Wouldn't put their beers up with some of the top places in Indy, but I do always enjoy visiting there.

Mass Ave - As mentioned above, Mass Ave is a great area of downtown for drinking and getting some food. "The Tap" http://www.thetapmassave.com/ is a craft beer bar that has an extensive beer menu and actually serves beer brewed from their sister location in Bloomington. The Tap's "Bionic Dragon" is one of Indy's best IPAs imo. As a craft beer bar, I prefer it over Hopcat. A lot of it has to do with the great location. Bazbeaux and Pizzology are 2 good pizza spots just down the street. There's also Bru Burger Bar http://www.bruburgerbar.com/indianapolis/ I think even the folks who don't enjoy beer would find Mass Ave an appealing location to wander and grab a bite.

TappedIN http://tappedin.beer/ is a phone app that uses "check-in" data from "Untappd" to basically provide real time updates on what people are drinking at local places. It uses your phone's location to show you the nearest spots and the last time someone checked in drinking a particular beer. I use it all the time in Indy. You can click on a venue to see what people are drinking there, or search by beer if you're looking for the nearest spot that has a particular beer.

I would also mention that you will drive right by Indiana City Brewing http://indianacitybeer.com/ if you're starting at Black Acre and then heading downtown. Both places are on Washington Street. I've only been there once (if i'm in the area its hard for me not to go to Black Acre), but they have an outdoor deck and a nice interior space. Enjoyed the stouts I had there. Might be worth a quick visit.

Scarlet Lane Brewing and Bier Brewery are a couple local brewers who are making some good stuff. You might look for their beers around town.

Cheers

 

Just randomly decided to head down to Nashville for a long weekend and wanted to spend a night in the Indy area tonight. Thanks for putting me onto deviate, sounds like a must hit spot that I would have missed otherwise.

 

If you want the full race/beer experience, Flat 12 will be releasing Hinchtown Hammerdown a collaboration with IndyCar racer and self-proclaimed mayor of Hinchtown, James Hinchcliffe. I imagine we might be seeing other commemorative beers for the 100 running of the Indy 500 as well.

http://www.flavor574.com/Drink/Colu...ive-beer-in-honor-of-100-years-of-racing.html

 

I can't say enough good things about Deviate. I haven't had a bad beer yet there. I'm kicking myself for not joining the growler club. I personally think Daredevil is doing the most consistent beer in the city. I really like their beers and their taproom. I hope they expand/keep brewing their pils and doing lagers.

I want to like Tow Yard and TwoDeep. I really do. They both have rooms I want to be in and drink beer, but both of them have trainwrecks for beer. I don't mean beer I don't like, but beer with significant flaws from butter bombs to bandaid beers. It bothers me that visitors to downtown or IUPUI will probably drink in one of these places and think that represents Indiana beer.

 

Do not waste your time going to Tow Yard or St Joseph's. If I said their beer was mediocre I would be over hyping.

Deviate (everything), Black Acre (not hops), and Daredevil (for hoppy) are above and beyond everything else. Indiana City does have good stuff on from time to time. Cans for the track = Daredevil Rip Cord. If you want crushable then Upland Campside.

 

If you go to Pint Room, you must get Bar Bacon....I don't believe it's on the menu, but you have failed if you don't order it.

 

Just wanted to say, the last hour I was in Indy (had all sorts of issues on the trip including my trans finally going on my truck) I finally got to visit Deviate and was extremely impressed withthe4 beers I had in their flight. I will be trying to go back for sure.

 

No mention of Central State's taproom, The Koelschip, yet. I haven't been myself, but was planning to check it out next time I'm in town. Any thoughts on this spot from those who have been?

 

It's a very nice space with good house beer and good guest taps. No food there, but grab a Batali sandwich from next door at a place called The Goose and you can bring it in.

 

We're headed there too this weekend and I will definitely be checking this thread for ideas Thanks

 

Just FYI, check this thread out as well for race day stuff.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/indy-500-weekend-2016.417103/#post-4779663

We are planning on doing a "can share" sometime in the AM inside the track.

 

My favorite bottle shop in the area is Parti-Pak Liquors on 96th St. On your way back from Black Acre heading towards Deviate, take 465 and get off at the Keystone Ave exit. Take the first right on 96th St and Parti-Pak is about a mile on the right.

For Pint Room, make sure you get there early. I've been there around 6pm on a Saturday and the wait was over 2 hours. Bar is open seating though. I have to disagree about the food at Pint Room, I think its really fantastic. Way better than Hopcat.

For a wildcard spot to try, look up BoomBozz on 146th st. The food is quite good and they have a small number of taps (around 15 to 20) but usually have a great selection. They use beermenus. I had a 120 Minute IPA there on Saturday. They usually highlight a local brewery or two.

 

Pint Room...it's Bar Bacon....not beer bacon. And it's delicious.

and yes, you will be able to get carry out from Daredevil on sunday.

 

^^^Parti Pak is good and they'll do singles of everything they have. In Carmel, too, there is Vine and Table on Carmel Dr. They'll do singles of everything and they have a VAST selection of local cans including a bunch from Bare Hands there this past weekend, which I haven't seen very often. That's my go-to store. Incredible whiskey selection too.